Question: The manager at Jessica's Furniture Store is trying to figure out how much to charge for a couch that just arrived. The couch was bought at a wholesale price of $\$113.00$, and Jessica's Furniture Store marks up all furniture by $45\%$. At what price should the manager sell the couch? $\$\ $
Solution: In order to find the retail price, we must first find the amount of markup. Remember that a markup rate is a percentage of the wholesale price that a store adds to get a selling or retail price. With this knowledge, we can figure out the following equation: markup rate $\times$ wholesale price $=$ amount of markup Since the markup rate is a percentage, we have to convert it into a decimal first. Percent means "out of one hundred," so $45\%$ is equivalent to $\dfrac{45}{100}$ which is also equal to $45 \div 100$. $45 \div 100 = 0.45$ Now you have all the information you need to find the amount of markup! $0.45$ $\times$ $\$113.00$ $=$ $\$50.85$ Since the markup rate is a percentage of the wholesale price that is added to get the retail price, we can find the retail price with the following equation: amount of markup $+$ wholesale price $=$ retail price $\$50.85$ $+$ $\$113.00$ $=$ $\$163.85$ The retail price of the couch should be $\$163.85$.